Axle
by GlaciesTheNerd101
Summary: Here is yet another "short" story. This one from Axle's point of view. Start after chapter 9 of Shadows of the Night to avoid spoilers. For his story I will have at least three parts. I'm not sure whether of not I will make a fourth but for now enjoy!
1. Part 1

**Part 1:**

The Trandoshan hissed his plea for mercy, but Axle had a job to do. His captors weren't going to kill the lizard but they would most certainly kill Axle if he abandoned his assignment… Only if they could catch him that was. Axle was willing to take the risk of having the Pikes after him but only if the lizard could pay him more money. Exo had been a tough man to find and his freedom would be pricey.

Exo looked to be about thirty, a few years older than the twenty year old Axle, he had yellow green scales and a nice set of self sharpened gleaming white teeth.

"How much you got?" Axle asked.

"Oh credits!" Exo hissed. "Iss that what you'd like! Yes I have many credits. Name a price. Anything!" he pleaded

Axle considered his price. The Pikes had given would have given him thirty thousand to hunt down the lizard and he wanted at least twenty more.

"Say... sixty grand" Axle requested. The lizard's face fell but Axle knew he had the money. He just wasn't so keen on giving it up to him. "Come on Exo, sixty."

"If sixty thousand is your price. Than sixty thousand you shall receive," he complied. Axle smirked triumphantly.

"Let's get the money then shall we?"

Exo led him to an old abandoned house of some sort. And began tearing up planks. He soon turned around with a heaping pile of credits. "It was a pleasure." Exo hissed aggressively as Axle gladly took the money.

Axle was strolling down the streets of Corelia being proud of his gain for the day. He must have not been looking where he was going because he ran head first into a man wearing a leather jacket accidentally knocking him to the ground. He had shaggy black hair, blue-green eyes and a rather startled look at being thrown on the sidewalk.

"Sorry about that." Axle said helping the man up.

"No worries" he replied brushing himself off.

"I guess my mind was just elsewhere," The man stated.

"You're not alone in that one." Axle replied

"Hang on have I seen you before?" he asked.

"Probably," Axle stated truthfully. His name and picture were on a few wanted lists around the galaxy... Just a few.

"What's your name?"

"Axle. You?

"Flocken." he said.

"How was the sidewalk?" Axle remarked.

"Just lovely," Flocken replied sarcastically. "You should visit sometime."

"Oh believe me I've been loads of times." Axle jokes.

Flocken laughed at Axle's comment. "I've probably gotta get going. I've got to get home to my daughter." he said.

Axle continued on his way across town to the nearest hotel to stay in. He was now thinking about what Flocken had said about having to get home to his daughter. Axle chuckled at the thought of him ever having a kid. It wasn't so much the kid themselves, more of the lifestyle that came with it. He pushed his thoughts away and continued on his way to the hotel.

Axle crashed down on his bed his hands behind his head. The cushiony mattress and pillows were a pleasant change to the usual of him falling asleep in the pilot's seat of the Shadow. Not that he didn't enjoy doing that. He just always woke up with a crick in his neck afterward. Granted he did have a bed on the Shadow. He just never used it.

He kicked off his heavy rocket boots that hit the floor with a thud, stripped off his metal armor and rearranged his lekku into a more comfortable position.

Axle reviewed his success for the day in his head and thought out his plan to avoid the Pikes from then forward or at least until they forgot about him. He thought until his eyelids drooped and he started to snore.

Axle awoke early the next morning refreshed. The clock on the bedside table read six-forty two in red numbers. He got up stretched and went to take a hot shower for the first time in a couple weeks.

A few hours later he had settled down with a book he had found and a cup of tea. It was a nice moment of peace and quiet in his usual chaotic lifestyle. Axle loved being a bounty hunter and not truly belonging anywhere. He had lived that way for the past four years since he was sixteen. It was nice not needing anyone and not having anyone to need you. It was simpler that way, but Axle always appreciated his seldom breaks from being a bounty hunter and this was one of them.

At around four o'clock Axle was back on the streets of Corelia. His intentions weren't anything specific just to take a walk until something entertaining possibly caught his eye.

He wasn't sure exactly when he first started to hear it but in the midst of the noise of the city he could make out a singular voice. It sounded as if it belonged to a young child and it was yelling. Axle slowed as the voice became the loudest it had right after he passed a door of a small house. There was a messily parked speeder out in front and the door was cracked open.

Axle felt curiosity tug at him, but why should he care? It wasn't any of his business. And yet as he thought he was drifting ever so closer to the door until his hand was on the knob. He peeked in through the doorway and didn't see anyone. What he could see was the kitchen. There was a sippy cup on the table and the fridge was plastered with young child's drawings. From the kitchen there was a stairwell and a doorway leading into another room.

Axle, despite his better judgement, walked in through the front door. He kept alert for signs of movement and stepped through the doorway.

Axle's eyes went wide at the sight that greeted him. There was a small girl with fine wispy dirty blonde hair and blue-grey-green eyes bawling on the ground and most shockingly of all, a man with shaggy black hair wearing a leather jacket passed out on the couch (probably drunk) drenched in a puddle of his own sweat. In fact it was the same man that Axle had run into the day before!

Axle tried to lift the screaming child but she let her limbs go limp like jello and continued to bawl. "Shh.. Shhh,, It's okay!" he said frantically. What mess did Axle just get himself tangled up in?! Out of all the crime lords assassins and warriors he's encountered, this tiny screaming child had to have been the most terrifying yet.

Most of Axle wanted to get the hell out of there but part of him wanted to stay and make sure everything was okay before he left. So of course, being the generous person he was Axle stayed until the little girl stopped crying.

"Who are you?" she asked after she had pulled herself together.

"No one important."

"Hi." the girl said.

"Can you help me wake up Daddy?" she asked poking her sleeping father.

"Sure kid." Axle replied

Axle took a prod at Flocken with no response. His skin was cold and clammy and drenched with sweat. He tried again. Nothing. And again. Nothing. Finally Axle placed two fingers in Flocken's wrist…

Nothing. He was dead.

There were no visible marks on his body, nothing to indicate that he had been murdered. Axle had seen a lot of dead bodies and he knew how to identify causes of death but this one stumped him. Could have been poison...

Suddenly it struck Axle that he had to tell the kid about her dad. "Look… he's- he's dead, kid…" he said quietly putting a hand on her shoulder. The girl simply looked puzzled.

"What does dead mean?" she asked.

Axle's stomach plummeted. How was he supposed to explain death to a what, three or four year old? Especially when he had to explain it in front of the body of her father.

"It means-" Axle stopped himself. "Come on you want to go on a walk?"

"Okay!" the little girl squealed, immediately forgetting her question.

The little girl grasped Axle's hand and dragged him towards the front door. She was surprisingly strong for the tiny little thing she was. She turned the doorknob just able to reach it and pulled it open.

As the two of them walked into the busy streets of Corelia Axle earned himself a few looks from passer byers. It must have been strange to see a very clearly bounty hunter type figure walking down the street with a kid. Axle knew if he had ever seen it he would be bewildered and yet here he was.

Axle was relieved when they finally reached the hotel. The kid quickly started to explore every inch of his room as soon as they entered and he let her.

Now his mission was to find this kid's mom because Axle wasn't sure how long he could keep her. For one he had zero experience with any child and was minorly intimidated by the idea of having to take care of a three/ four year old for more than a few minutes, or at all for that matter, and for two he technically had kidnapped her. Then again he didn't think it counted considering he _was_ helping her. Okay he had kidnapped her.

"Hey," Axle said to the kid who was playing with the knobs on the bathroom sink.

"Yeah?" she asked looking up with big eyes.

"Do you know where your mom is?" he asked crouching down to her at eye level.

"What's a mom?" she asked curiously

"Okay…" Axle said. "Where's your mom _my._ "

"I don't know what that is." she stated.

"You know like your dad's wife. The other person that lives with you." Axle explained. Did the kid not have a mom? Maybe she used to live alone with her dad.

The kid just looked up at him confused.

"Nevermind." Axle said.

If the kid didn't have a mom, or at least one she knew then what was Axle supposed to do with the kid? That was when Axle realized. Flocken probably had worked, meaning the kid probably had a babysitter. That was his ticket out of this mess he had gotten himself into!

"Do you have a baby sitter? What's her name?" Axle asked

"Yes. Her name's Ms. Jil!" she exclaimed.

"Okay do you know her full name?" The kid shook her head. Axle sighed. "When does she come to babysit?" Axle asked.

"Oh! She's coming on Wednesday." the kid answered.

Axle's face fell into his hands. He was stuck with the kid for three more days until he could get ahold of this lady?! _You have to be kidding me…_ He thought.

"Alright kid I'm done interrogating you." he said.

"What does that mean?"

"It-Nevermind!" Axle groaned.

Throughout the rest of the day the kid had continued to bombard Axle with questions and destroy any relaxation he might have had at all that day. It was about eight o'clock before the kid finally started showing signs of fatigue. After trashing his room and knocking things over she had crashed on the armchair next the the desk.

Axle sighed with relief at the torment being temporarily older. He didn't even know why he was enduring this. He guessed that maybe she reminded him of a certain time in his life. Sure he had been bounty hunting for about three years now but there had been a time when Axle belonged somewhere, where he wasn't an outcast in the universe, where he had a place, a family, a _purpose_. Maybe the kid just reminded him of that time. He hated to admit it to himself but he sometimes missed that life. Other times he was glad to be rid of it.

He looked back on that time now. He remembered his mother, his father and his sister. He had been the youngest in his family, his sister being about five and a half years older than him. He wondered where she might be right now. Tailey had always been a loner. It was possible that she could be as much of an outcast as he was.

At fourteen Axle had started to get involved with the Republic. He wanted to fight for them, serve them and help build the regiment that would rule over the galaxy. He wanted to be soldier and he was for a little while before he found his own flaws in the Republic and the lifestyle that came with working for them. He still supported it but at sixteen he had decided that being a soldier wasn't the path he wanted to follow.

He had left everything behind and he wasn't mad at himself for it. He enjoyed the "carefree do whatever you want" lifestyle. No guidelines you had to abide by other than your own, no need to worry about being dragged down with anyone and he could go anywhere he wanted. But at the same time he missed having something to keep going for.

Axle looked over at the peacefully sleeping kid and smiled nostalgically to himself. Then the smile faded from his face. He really did feel horrible for her. How in the universe was he supposed to tell her about her dad? It would have been so much easier to just say "He's dead." and be done with it but he had to explain what death was to a child and how her father was never going to wake up. Either way he didn't have to worry about that now. He might as well get some sleep.

Axle settled down on his bed and adjusted himself to a comfortable position. He closed his eyes and attempted sleep. It was a while before he drifted off but eventually he did.

Axle felt a poke in his side. He stirred and put his head under his pillow. He felt another poke and more followed. He groaned his peaceful sleep having been ruined and opened his eyes to look up. It was none other than his most recent problem.

"Kid why are you up so early? Your welcome to sleep in," he told her.

"I'm hungry," she replied.

Axle sighed. "Alright kid." He climbed out of the bed and staggered to his feet. A yawn forced his mouth open with tiredness. He grabbed the room's comn and called for room service.

"Some sort of breakfast is on it's way up kid." Axle said drowsily.

"Okay." she answered. "Hey?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"Why do you call me 'kid'?" she asked.

"You're a kid aren't you?" Axle responded.

"Yes."

"Well there you go."

"I have a name though." she stated giggling.

"For now "kid"ll do." Axle said.

"Okay." the girl said.

A little while later room service had made its way up to them with a nice looking breakfast buffet. Axle licked his lips in anticipation. He and the kid enjoyed a pretty good breakfast. There were some sort of egg, some blue milk and pancakes. Afterwards Axle was comfortably full and his money bag significantly lighter.

"Hey kid?" Axle said to her.

"Yeah?"

"Come on I've got to go on the Shadow and grab some more money and I can't leave you here."

"Okay!" she replied. "What's the Shadow?"

"The Shadow's my flying piece of wonderful garbage." Axle explained. The kid just looked confused. "It's complicated."

"What does complicated mean?"

"Nevermind. The Shadow's my ship."

"Oh."

Axle and the kid walked out of the hotel and to the shipyard where the Shadow was parked. By the time they got there it was early afternoon. They went inside of the Shadow where Axle withdrew about a thousand credits from the storage compartment hidden in the wall and placed them inside his money bag.

"Alright kid let's go," Axle said. "Kid?" The kid who had previously been behind him was now gone. "Oh great," he muttered. "Kid come on I'm not kidding around let's go." Axle walked into the cockpit where the kid was sitting in _his_ seat, pushing buttons at random. "No, no, no, no!" he yelled. The kid spun the seat around to look back at him with big blue-green eyes. "Look kid you- you can't just urguhh." he growled. "Just come on."

"But I wanted to fly the ship." she said disappointedly.

"Your too young to fly a ship."

"Can I watch you fly it?" she asked.

Axle considered it. He would enjoy just taking a spin in the Shadow just to waste his boredom. "Aright kid but you've got to promise not to touch anything."

"Okay!"

Axle picked the kid up out of the pilot's chair and placed her into the co-pilot's chair and started the Shadow. He pulled up on the controls and his beautiful ship soared into the sky without the slightest hint of resistance.

"Woah!" the kid squealed with excitement.

Axle swelled with pride of the Shadows performance. It was the most beautiful ship in the galaxy.

As the Shadow exited the atmosphere Corellia's blue-green and orange-grey surface loomed below. Axle sighed with content and leaned back in his chair just taking in the beauty of the stars and planets that shined bright thousands of lightyears away. He sat there for only a few minutes before the kid interrupted his thoughts.

"Can we go to the place with the flashy lights?" she asked.

"What?" Axle asked confused.

"The place where you press some buttons and then pull a switchy thingy and then there are flashy lights. Can we go there?"

"Oh! You mean hyperspace. Yeah we can go into hyperspace for a little bit."

"Yay!"

Axle set coordinates for some random planet and let the computer calculate it's route. He would pull the Shadow out of hyperspace at some point after he wanted to head back. After the computer was done calculating he pulled the hyperspace lever and the stars stretched out as the Shadow was engulfed in light.

"Woah!" the kid squealed again.

Axle smirked in response. She was staring captivated at the blue lights that had surrounded the Shadow. Axle walked out from the cockpit and into the main room of the Shadow. He grabbed a couple rations from a cabinet and walked back into the cockpit.

"Here kid, think fast." he said tossing one of the rations in her direction. It hit the back of her head with the crinkle of the wrapper.

"Oww!" She yelled.

"Oops." he snickered.

The kid picked the ration up off the floor and examined it. "What is it?" she asked.

"It's food." Axle replied.

"Oh," she replied. She opened up the ration packet and popped the stick into her mouth. "Eww…" She complained.

"What?" Axle said munching on his own ration.

"It's all mushy and and yucky!" she stated making a face.

"Oh come on it's not that bad!" Axle replied. The kid responded by spitting out the half chewed ration back into the package. "That's lovely," he grimaced.

After a little while Axle had found himself playing hide and seek with the kid and somehow losing. It wasn't exactly fair. Axle was a relatively big guy and couldn't fit into a lot of small places. The kid on the other hand was tiny and could fit into what seemed like anywhere.

Axle was currently assigned the role of seeking again and was looking for the kid in the cargo hold. It was a relatively good place to hide considering the room was stuffed full of various items. Eventually he spotted a small foot sticking out from under a box. Axle creeped towards the kid and then popped up in front of her.

"Guess who could have found a better hiding spot," Axle teased.

"Me," the kid grumbled.

Axle picked her up and held her in front of his face. "What's up?" he asked.

"I dunno," she replied.

"Sure you do." Axle replied. "Come on take a guess."

"Is it me?"

"Yep."

"Oh I get it!" the kid exclaimed with a giggle. "Because I'm _up!_ "

"Alright kid don't wear it out." Axle said.

"Okay."

"Why do you have things on your head?" the kid asked.

"What you mean my headtails?" Axle asked. "I don't know why do you have this stuff on your head?" Axle said gesturing to the kid's fine dirty blonde hair.

"Because." she said. "Yours are weird."

"What mine's weird? Are you kidding? Your the one who has a giant path of fur growing of the top of your head! At least mine makes sense!" Axle exclaimed.

"But yours are weird!" the kid exclaimed again.

"If mine are so are yours!" Axle said screwing with the kids hair. The kid let out a squeal as he did so.

"Come on it's my turn to hide," Axle stated putting her down.

Awhile later Axle had realized he had become completely sidetracked with the kid and forgotten to drop out of hyperspace sooner, meaning the ride back to Corellia was going to take a shit ton longer.

Axle pushed the hyperspace lever back to its original position and watched as the blue and white lights faded and the depths of space became still once more. He began to set coordinates back for Corellia and let the computer do it's thing. When it was done he pulled back the hyperspace lever once more resulting white light to spark up from the control panel.

Sparks engulfed the front of the cockpit and Axle sprang back. A moment passed and they were gone replaced by smoke.

"God dammit, mother fucking shit!" Axle swore kicking the control panel resulting in more sparks. "Fuck," he said a few seconds later.

"Was that supposed to happen?" the kid asked.

"No," Axle growled.

"Oh. Well why did it do that?" she asked

"Because my ship is a piece of garbage that's why," Axle spat. The kid was quiet. "Look kid I'm sorry. I'm just angry at my ship that's all." he said crouching down to eye level with her.

"Okay," she replied.

Axle walked back over to the computer and tried to turn it on. It blinked for a few seconds then went dark again. He tried it a few more times before it finally turned on. He ran I diagnostic on the Shadow and found that a few different parts of the hyperdrive had apparently blown up. _Great,_ Axle thought sarcastically. Even worse almost all the systems of the Shadow had crashed including life support. To top it all off several different parts of the ship were scheduled to malfunction at random.

"Fantastic," he muttered to himself sarcastically. "Alright kid I've got to start trying to get the ship running again so stay put and don't touch anything."

"Okay," she replied.

This was the fourth time this month that Axle had needed to fix the damn hyperdrive. The systems had stayed working for about two weeks thus far and Axle had hoped that they would last just a bit longer but no that was just too much optimism wasn't it? He really should consider investing in a new ship.

He supposed he should start by rebooting life support that way they wouldn't die of suffocation or cold. Axle turned back towards the th computer and began to reboot life support. That alone would take about an hour for the computer to pull off so he got up to go check in on the kid.

He stood up and began walking towards the main room when all of a sudden the floor dropped out from beneath him. He heard a shriek come from the main room of the Shadow. It took Axle a moment to register what exactly was going on but he soon realized gravity had stopped working.

"This is gonna make things interesting," Axle said aloud to himself.

He pushed himself off the wall trying to get to the kid but instead ended up just crashing into the opposite wall.

"Ow." he muttered.

He eventually made his way into the main room to find the kid huddled up in a ball of terror towards the ceiling. In an awkward fashion Axle flailed him limbs in a way that propelled himself up. He grabbed the kid just in time as they both plummeted back down to the floor with a yell from both of them as gravity kicked back in.

The kid stared up at Axle eyes glazed over with horror. She was crouched on the floor completely in shock. He felt bad for the poor kid. He really did but he couldn't help just being a tad bit amused.

"Awe come here kid."he said.

The kid scrambled into Axle's lap and curled up like a scared animal during a thunderstorm. He placed and arm around her shoulders and she calmed down a bit.

"I wanna go home," she said sniffling. Tears began to well in her eyes.

"I know kid. I know." Axle soothed.

"I miss Daddy!" she sobbed.

Axle's stomach plummeted again. "Kid…" Axle took a deep breath. He _needed_ to tell her.

"Your dad- Your dad is gone."

"What do you mean?"she asked.

"I mean you can't see him anymore."

"Yes I can! You can't tell me what to do!" she said pushing Axle away.

"Kid…"

"I want to go home!" she sobbed defiantly.

"Kid your father is dead!" Axle yelled. "He's never _going_ to wake up!" Axle grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her straight in the eye. "He's _gone!_ " Tears had begun to cloud Axle's gaze and it took him by complete and utter surprise. He didn't think he had cried since he was just a little kid and he was crying now for this three year old girl.

"You're a liar!" she sobbed. Before Axle could say anything else she had ripped herself away from him and run off into Axle's quarters slamming and locking the door behind her.

Axle sood up and walked over to his quarters. He knocked on the door gently.

"Go away!" the girl yelled at him from inside.

"Kid…" Axle said.

"Stop calling me that! My name is Nutmeg!" she sobbed.

"Okay Nutmeg. Can I come in?" Axle asked.

"No."

"Please?" Axle asked.

"No."

"Pretty please?" Axle asked, it paining him to use the expression.

"No!"

 _You know what?!_ Axle thought. _I'm doing this my way._ Axle reached into one of the many satchels that hung from his waist and pulled out a lock pick. With years of experience he picked the lock open within seconds.

Axle walked into his quarters and looked at his bed to see a small lump under the covers. He walked over and placed his hand on the lump.

"I'm so sorry." he said. "But there's nothing I can do."

Nutmeg responded with a small sob.

"I have an idea." Axle said. "How would you like to live with me?"

The words had escaped Axle's lips before he could truly think about what he was saying. How could he possibly take care of a child while still maintaining his bounty hunter career? No one would take him seriously, it was a full time job to be a bounty hunter and he didn't have the slightest clue how to raise a kid!

The thought crossed his mind. Maybe he didn't need to be a bounty hunter. He sometimes did resent the life and he knew it….but at the same time he loved being a bounty hunter. He knew why he didn't always admire the life he had chosen and that was because he was an outcast with no one to call family, no place to call home and nobody depended on him. Maybe he could have the best of both worlds. He really did love the kid. Though he doubted he would ever be much of a fatherly figure to her an older brother one would be good enough, that was if she even wanted that.

"You can bring all your stuff with you from home. You can live with me here on the Shadow and do all sorts of fun things, right?"

Nutmeg lifted her head from beneath the blankets and stared at him.

"Maybe we won't live on the Shadow." Axle suggested. "Granted we'll spend a lot of time here but maybe we could go somewhere else and have an actual house. That doesn't sound _so_ bad does it?" he asked.

"Okay." Nutmeg said.

Axle smiled at her. _This may work after all…_

"But first." Nutmeg started.

"Yeah?"

"What's your name?" she giggled.

Axle laughed only now realizing she still didn't know his name. "Name's Axle kid" he said screwing up her hair again.

It was about six hours later before the Shadow was repaired. Nutmeg had crashed and it was almost midnight before they were back on Corellia. Axle had to carry Nutmeg all the way back the hotel and afterwards Axle had crashed himself.

The next day Axle had gone back to Nutmeg's old house. Nutmeg was waiting on the porch while Axle buried her father in the backyard. After he did that she came inside the house with his to pick out all the necessities that she would need to bring with her.

Axle had gone up to her father's room to see if he could find anything that the kid could remember him by. He looked around for a little while before he came across a small ornate box. He examined it and his eyes fell on the lid. On it there was a cylindrical object with a beam protruding from the end. _Is that a…_ His thought trailed off. This was lightsaber. Axle removed the lid from the box and peered inside. Inside there was a neatly folded piece of paper, a necklace and a blue grey crystal…


	2. Part 2

**Part 2:**

Axle saw Nutmeg backing away from the thugs. He prayed to the stars that they wouldn't hurt her. She was just a kid. They didn't know she was a force user. They came here because he had been stupid, not because of her.

Axle saw one of them push her into the snow. Enraged he fought the troops that held him in place with all his strength. _How dare they touch her! How dare they!_ He thought. He broke one of his arms away from them and felt his fist come in contact with a dusty helmet but only one of the many that surrounded him. Axle didn't think he had ever fought harder in his life, but there were still hopelessly outnumbered.

For the minute or so that he had looked away he must have missed quite a bit. Axle looked back at Nutmeg on the ground to see what sent the deepest fear he had ever experienced coursing through him. He saw Nutmeg' face splattered with blood turning the snow red. There was so much of it, it was impossible to tell where it was coming from.

"Kid?!" he called fighting the many arms that restrained him. His voice cracked with terror. "KID?!" he screamed. "NUTMEG!"

"Axle," came a feeble wail from the ground. She was okay! But no one wasn't about to change that on his watch!

He felt tears slide down his face. It took Axle a second to recognize them as tears as opposed to snowflakes that had melted on his cheeks. If Nutmeg died Axle would never forgive himself. This was all his fault. _How could I be so stupid!_

Cavern had finally freed himself from a tight circle of Pikes. He now was running through the blizzard sharp teeth bared and snarling. He charged at any life form that got in his path, his teeth easily penetrating the unarmored parts of them, but it still wasn't enough. One of the Red Claws shot at him. Luckily they missed his chest but they still managed to shoot his leg and that was enough to take him to the ground.

A stun bolt came into contact with Axle's chest. The stun setting wasn't high but he still felt the air knocked out of him and his feet give way. After that Axle was wrestled into a shuttle craft and then into a cell, as he lost sight of Nutmeg. He slammed his entire body against the cell door, his strength regained only because of the adrenaline coursing through his veins. It knocked the air out of him once more, but he did it again and again anyway. Axle dared not to think it was useless. He had to try. Nutmeg was all he had to live for and she was going to die if he didn't get out of here! Blizzards on Diversus were brutal and if the cold didn't kill her first, she'd be buried alive in the snow.

 _No! She won't die! Nutmeg is strong, she is smart and she is determined! She'll find a way out. There was no way she will give up that easily_! Axle told himself. _She will make it. She's strong. She'll find a way out._ He repeated the mantra over and over again in his head, but it still didn't calm him down.

After a long time of trying to break free a female Zabrak walked into the cell and restrained Axle with binders. She took him into a shuttle bay of what he recognized to be some sort of old imperial ship. Axle soon realized that this was some sort of altered star destroyer. Axle was led through he lost count of how many hallways and was then shoved into a cell.

After Axle picked himself up off the floor he looked up to see a skinny woman gazing down at him. She had sleek dark brown hair tied into an array of small braids. Her heart shaped face was young and lively and her skin, a tawny porcelain was much like the warm bright light that poured over the Northern Diversian forest. A long sleeved russet brown shirt hung over her small frame loosely and she was wearing baggy black pants. Her clothing was stained with mud and dirt and was torn in several places. Her big ocean blue eyes scanned him critically. Although what exactly she was criticizing remained unclear. She seemed slightly familiar, but he brushed it off.

"Hi." he said casually "Uh, nice place you got here."

Axle covered up his emotional pain with his usual sly demeanor. The woman glared at him."Haha. Yep, right sorry." said Axle. "Guess were cell mates eh?"

"What's up?" came another voice. That moment in what looked to be a large crack in the separation between two cells, the head of a twi'lek appeared. She had sapphire blue skin, longish head tails with leather wrappings on them and brown eyes.

"Hey, looks like you've got a new cell mate! Hopefully you don't kill this one as quickly as the last," she said.

Axle honestly wasn't sure if she was joking or not. The woman, gave the twi'lek a bit of a look. A yell in a language Axle didn't understand came from the other cell from which the twi'lek had appeared from.

"Hang on," she said. She then started joining in the argument between her and her cellmate.

"So-" Axle said trying to start up a conversation but trailed off as his eyes drifted down to her right arm. The sleeve of her shirt had been torn off. The arm was twisted at a very strange angle as if it had been badly wounded before and then had healed that way. Her skin was practically one huge scar. There were a few soiled bandages still wrapped around it. A few of them wrapped around her wrist and then looped around her neck lifting up the arm as if were in a sort of sling.

The woman glared at him, obviously knowing why he had trailed off then turned around and sat in the opposite corner of the cell.

Awhile later Axle had began trying to come up with an escape plan when a shabby looking Rodian came by and dropped in a few rations and water jug. There was nothing Axle needed more than food right now. He was starving.

He grabbed one of the ration packs and tore it open. Axle shoved the whole thing into his mouth. It tasted rancid, but at the same time he relished the feeling of food in his mouth.

That moment in an instant the woman was holding him by the collar of his shirt with her good arm. Axle choked. She was staring holes through him. "What are you doing!" she yelled, shaking him.

"I-" he coughed

"You idiot!"

"Wh-"

"Do you want to survive?!"

Axle was speechless.

"Answer me! Do you want to survive?!"

"Um-uh, yes?"

"Than I suggest you listen to me and listen hard! This isn't a stupid game! You don't get the _luxury_ of food and water every day!" she spat. "And you might _think_ you want to leave this cell but if you do it won't be to freedom. It'll be to a labor camp where you work your hands to the bone until you're physically incapable of doing so anymore! Got it?" she took a moment to give Axle one last glare, then released him.

Axle had absolutely no idea what to say. He didn't think he'd ever met anyone with quite as much nerve, except maybe once. He supposed it must had been about him eating the entire ration. He massaged his neck as he thought. There were only three rations and it looked like, and she had most certainly made it sound like, he wouldn't be getting any more for a long while.

The twi'lek had stuck her head back through the gap at some point and had most likely seen the confrontation. Axle cleared his throat and tried to make himself look tough.

"You two are going to love each other," the twi'lek said, with more than a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"To be optimistic I'm kind of surprised that they haven't killed me yet." Axle suggested.

" _Yet_ "

Axle felt snow touch his cheeks. He was back on Southern Diversus. The sheet of ice stretched out in front of him. His feet glided on the surface smoothly. Joy and pride for the kid surged through him as he looked back at Nutmeg behind him. He grinned happily at her.

Axle slowed his pace and came to a stop. Nutmeg had stopped in front of him beaming, her long dirty blonde hair slightly in her face, covering her left eye.

Suddenly the ice cracked and the sun faded. Axle tried to grab ahold of her. But she vanished with the black water. Snow rained down. The wind whipped him in the face, everything went cold and blackness engulfed the light.

Nutmeg's voice broke through the wind. "Where were you?!" it screamed through the darkness.

"How could you be so stupid?!" she cried out.

Axle reached for her in the darkness. He stumbled blindly, searching for any sign of her. Tears welled in his eyes and sobs racked him. His knees collided with the ground in despair.

"You could have saved me!"

Axle eyes flew open. Nutmeg's voice still echoed in his ears. Over and over again the words 'You could have saved me' ringing through his head. His chest rose and fell rapidly and he felt himself curl tighter into a small ball in the corner in which he had slept. Tears coursed down his face and every breath came with another sob. His arms came up to shield his face.

Axle could have saved her. He could have prevented all of this. Nutmeg could be dead all because of his own stupidity. If he had only realized that they had installed a tracker on his ship they would never have followed him back home. He might never see the kid again. Axle had failed. Axle had failed himself but worst of all he had failed Nutmeg… And that hurt more than anything else ever could…

He wasn't sure how long he had been sitting there or what the time was but he soon came to the realization that the other person in the cell with him had probably seen all of that.

Axle lifted his head out from between his knees and looked up. He and the woman briefly made eye contact before she pretended to be asleep. He wiped the dried tear stains off of his face as well as he could hide it and stood up.

"So," he started. "Why a star destroyer?"

The human simply looked back at him with a new look in her eye.

"I don't need your pity," Axle snarled defiantly.

"I despise pity." Narri stated blatantly. "To answer your question however, the destroyer used to belong to the Amaxines. When they fell the captain sold it along with the prisoners to the Red Claws who used them for their own needs."

The Red Claws… So that's who it was settled he'd be taken by. The Red Claws were an illegal mining syndicate. It thrived upon slavery and the suffering of others. He supposed that was why he had been chosen to go with them, so that they could supposedly torture him enough before he inevitably died.

A couple years back Axle had been hired to assassinate their second in command along with his partner so naturally he had done just that. He unfortunately had been identified in the process and they had been after him ever since. Thankfully enough however a new leader had been elected since then so he wasn't in _as_ of deep water. He would most likely just enslave him like the others.

"Do you have any tips for me?" Axle asked.

"When you're strong get stronger. That way you'll have strength built up and you won't be weakened as easily." she consoled. "We got lucky." The woman said solemnly. " Olive and I are healthy compared to a lot of these people."

Axle swallowed a lump in his throat. He could only imagine how hard it was for a completely healthy person to survive here, not to mention one with severe malnutrition, constant exhaustion or especially an arm down. He noticed his gaze had drifted back down to the woman's arm and she had definitely noticed.

"It's not as bad as it looks you know," she said protectively. "I've learned to live without it."

"It has to be painful though doesn't it?" Axle said concerned. "I mean I had a ripped tendon in my ankle as a kid that never got taken care of and even that still gave me a bit of trouble a couple years afterwards."

"Not really. The whole thing is paralyzed so I don't really feel anything," she stated. It was clearly a lie. Although it might be paralyzed it was clear that she was lying about the pain.

"If you don't mind me asking," Axle started "How did it happen?"

She grimaced as if remembering bad memories. "Blaster bolt," she stated "It traveled directly up my arm shattering the bone and and tearing up everything else. I should have died. Blood loss didn't kill me. Infection didn't either. Even the Amaxine officer that, as torture, crushed my already permanently damaged arm, strangled me and slammed my entire right side into a wall, breaking one of my ribs in the process didn't kill me and it should have too. So no matter what anyone might say, I am a lucky _bitch_."

Axle was quiet. He could only imagine what it might be like to endure a physical trauma like that. I mean he had been injured before but never that badly.

"So," the woman said "What's your deal?"

"Huh?" Axle replied.

"I told you what's up with me, now you tell me what's up with you."

"It's none of your business," Axle declared defensively. "I don't owe you anything."

Axle was fighting to control his emotions. How dare she just directly ask him about his problems as if it were her right to know! Nutmeg could be dead and it was all his fault. Even worse he might never find out if she was alive or not. He walked to the other side of the cell and sat down back in the corner.

He needed to get out of here! He needed to get back to Nutmeg! He fought the tears threatening to reveal themselves but he couldn't suppress his hyperventilation or the fact that he was shaking like a leaf. Axle was having his second full on mental breakdown for the first time in about ten years. He tried to calm down but it didn't work.

 _I can't stay here! I need to get out!_ He thought frantically _Back to Nutmeg!_ The walls seemed to be closing in around him. His eyes squeezed shut. _Get me out of here!_ Axle screamed in his head. He felt his heart pounding in his ears until that was all he was capable of hearing.

Suddenly he felt a hand at his collar again as he was yanked up.

"Listen!" the human said aggressively. "Pull yourself together." She slapped him. "You're not doing yourself any good by sitting there having a goddamn mental break down."

Axle grabbed ahold of himself. She was right. Panicking wasn't helping anyone. He needed to focus on preserving himself long enough until he could escape. He took a long deep breath and calmed his breathing.

"I'm sorry," Axle apologized.

"It's alright." she replied letting him down. "My name's Narri, Nar-"

"Narri Olles," Axle finished for her. "I remember you now. You're that "contact" we were given when looking for those two fugitives."

A look of understanding and distaste crossed Narri's face. "Right. I remember you now too." she stated.

"Don't worry," Axle said reading her mind. "I don't hurt kids. It violates something I call my "code of honor"."

Narri's gaze softened. She let him down and she even smiled a bit. "Right then."

"I'm Axle." Axle stated

"I remember."

"Right," he said smiling a bit himself, a little embarrassed.

"Olive Athene," said the twi'lek, her upper body leaned up against the metal cot in Narri and Axle's cell.

"Hey," Axle said

"Olive and I have been best friends now for about nine years. We met each other as young teens. Remind me how old Olive?"

"We were twelve actually so that makes ten years."

"Wow it's been that long huh?"

"Yep," Olive replied.

"What's today?"

Olive glanced at a watch on her wrist. "March eighth, almost eleven o'clock standard time." she answered.

"Got it." Narri replied.

Axle found his eyes drifting back to Narri, both looking at her maimed arm and her face. He remembered when he had first met her. She had been just as fiery then. Although her arm was healthy at that point which meant that she couldn't have been here more than nine months. Other than her arm Narri's appearance had also changed quite a bit. She had grown thinner and lost quite a bit of the muscle tone that she had had due to lack of protein. Her finely sculpted face had still remained the same, however her eyes had gained a new hardness and she had more of a defiant glare as though her resilience had been strengthened over the months.

Axle caught himself staring at Narri and looked away sharply, although he was pretty sure that Olive had caught him and that was now why she was smirking at him. He felt his face flush slightly and he again looked away sharply clearing his throat.

About a week had passed without any event other than the occasional nightmare that drifted up from Axle's subconscious as he slept. He had continued to assess the cell for weakness even with how quick Narri was to notify him that she had already checked a thousand times over and there were none.

Hunger and thirst has taken its toll on Axle's strength although he dare not complain because any hunger he was feeling was likely nothing to what everyone else's was.

He looked over at Narri chatting with Olive in between walls. He found his eyes glued to her face as she talked. She was warmly smiling at Olive. He studied the angles of her face. Her cheek bones were placed perfectly under her eyes and her jaw sloped down smoothly into a delicate chin. Even in the steely fluorescent light of the prison cell her pale skin glowed. Suddenly her ocean blue eyes turned towards him and she raised an eyebrow.

"You good Axle?"

"What?!" he exclaimed snapping out of it. "Um-uh- yeah of course!" he stuttered.

Narri took another moment to give him a strange glance then turned back towards Olive and they continued their conversation.

 _What in the universe was that?_ Axle asked himself. He had completely fallen apart for a moment there. He had just gotten unexplainably nervous for some reason. Not only that but for a good ten seconds he had just been completely captivated by Narri, just staring at her. He could only imagine how much of a creep he must of looked like.

Axle stopped himself again. Why was he caring so much about what Narri thought of him? _It's not like she's some sort of- I dunno-something remarkably important,_ he thought. She was just some woman that he was stuck with. Nothing special.

It was only then that Axle realized how much his face was burning. He even felt a small trickle of sweat on his brow.

He looked back at Narri. She was undoubtedly beautiful, he admitted to himself. She was fiery and strong willed and brave but at the same time she was gentle. Axle could tell that much. And she was kind. Axle felt that within her as well. _Hang on wait_! Axle thought. _What am I doing!?_ He barely knew her. They had met, or at least really met just over a week ago, but Axle could not deny that he was genuinely attracted to Narri.

It had been awhile since Axle had had any romantic anything. He of course had had teenage crushes but since he had become a bounty hunter there hadn't much been room for romanticizing. He was a little out of practice… No, no no. Axle was not going to try and seduce anyone. That would A. just piss Narri off and B. it was just a bad idea to get attached to someone in these conditions when you're never sure when you're going to die.

Axle willed his face to go back to its normal yellow rather than pink. He then sat down against the wall and began to fidget with his shoulder armor.

Axle collapsed down on the metal cot. His hands were blistered and burned and his entire body was covered in dirt mud and soot. The first day of labor had been absolutely grueling. They had assigned him to the hardest and most exhausting tasks possible along with all of the other newest slaves, a custom pick out the weak. They had also had to work an extra four hours. He would have to endure this treatment for a week before he would be allowed to work with the others.

Axle spit out some of the grit that had made itself into his mouth and allowed his face to sink into the cold metal cooling his quite overheated head.

"You alright Axle?" Narri asked.

"Mhmm," he replied.

"I remember the first week. It was dreadful."

Axle simply groaned in response.

"Get some rest." Narri segested. "I'll take the floor tonight."

"No it's fine," Axle replied. "You sound tired too."

"Everyone's tired Axle." Narri insisted. "You're exhausted."

"Fine," he admitted defeat. He didn't have enough energy to argue with Narri.

"Eat the last ration while you're at it. They'll give us more by tomorrow."

"Fine," he said again.

Axle felt the ration land on his head. He unwrapped it and savored the feeling of 'food' in his mouth. Very quickly even with how absolutely horribly uncomfortable the bed was and how much his hands stung he was asleep.

The week of torture eventually passed along with another one of what would soon become regular labor. Axle was bruised and bloody. The first week had been a nightmare and he had witnessed at least five deaths personally. It was awful. Now he was just as exhausted and working just as tirelessly as everyone else.

Along with his physical weariness his mental weariness was not getting better either. He was the most homesick as her had ever been. He missed Diversus. He missed his flying piece of garbage. But most of all he missed Nutmeg. Axle hoped she was okay.

At least he had Narri to tell him that he was being a baby when it came to his labor skills.

Nicely of course.

Narri quite honestly was a total badass. She could do more with her one arm than he could do with both of his. While her left arm was still skinny and muscle-less due to a lack of protein it was still surprisingly strong. Narri was incredible.

They would be staying at the planet's labor camp for another couple months where they were lucky enough to be sharing a cell again. Olive unfortunately was a few cells down the line with a not-so-friendly-looking lasat. At least Olive and Narri would still see each other during work which was good.

Narri right now was retying the bandages that hung her limp arm from her neck which had ripped earlier that day.

"Need a hand?" Axle asked. He received a death glare in response. "There definitely could have been a better way to phrase that." Axle said sheepishly.

After he had finished helping her Axle heard her mutter a sigh under her breath "That's better."

"You good?" Axle asked

"Fine." she replied tersly. There was a long moment of silence and Axle could've sworn that for a moment he saw Narri's face go pink. She then took a deep breath. "Axle?"

"Sup?" he replied.

Narri stood up and took a deep breath. "Look, I'm going to be right up front with you none of this stupid-ass tiptoeing around each other." Narri said. Axle was getting slightly nervous. "Alright here it goes." she said taking another deep breath. "I like you. Alot," she breathed, looking at Axle with her gleaming ocean blue eyes. "And I totally get it if you don't feel the same way but quite frankly you're fucking awesome and you're cool and funny and you're smart clearly an-

"Narri I really like you too- I _really_ like you." Axle interrupted the grin on his face widening. "You're a total badass and you're beautiful and strong and brave and _so_ much more."

"How am I brave exactly?" Narri asked

"Well for one you're able to come straight up to me and tell me how you feel. Are you kidding?! I could never do that. I mean look at me." Axle joked. "And you've made it through all that you have with more than enough fireyness to spare."

"Okay, okay I get it." she interrupted looking slightly pissed but mostly amused.

"Sorry." Axle said.

"Don't worry about it," Narri said smiling brightly.

Yet again Axle eyes were glued to hers and hers seemed to be glued to his this time. Then Axle felt Narri's hands take his…

The next morning they were awakened before the planet's sun yet again and were herded together to be escorted to the main mine.

Olive and Narri were chatting in hushed whispers behind Axle and he couldn't help but listen in.

"So did you tell him?" Olive asked Narri excitedly.

"Mhmm!" Narri replied with energy.

"And!?" Olive asked

Axle heard what must of been a rather painful high five based on the loud smacking sound and hushed ow's.

Axle smiled to himself. He was thrilled about Narri and him. It was the first good thing that had happened to him since he had been torn away from his home.

The only noises that could be heard above the sounds of the iron shackles clanging against rock was were the coughes of slaves swallowing dust along with the yells of orders being given by the supervisors.

Axle heaved yet another rock from the ditch in which he worked. He heard one of Narri's grunts of effort from next to him. Axle found himself yet again thinking about home.

"Hey Narri?" Axle asked his breath short.

"Yeah?" she said wiping sweat from her brow.

"What was your life like before this?"

"It was good." she said pausing. "Me and Olive spent our time tracking down Amaxine prison camps before they were dismembered. It was fun."

"Adventurous I take it?" Axle asked.

"Yeah…" Narri said reminecantly. "What was your's like?" she asked.

"It was good." Axle said quietly. "It was _really_ good. I had a home, a wonderful piece of flying garbage and a kid. Nutmeg was a lot like a little sister to me. She was my partner. I was never quite her dad."

"I remember her too now. Little girl, long dirty blonde hair, blue eyes?" she asked

"That's Nutmeg." Axle said pridefully. "I don't even know if she's still alive…" he said becoming solemn again tears beginning to well.

Narri suddenly got a determined look in her eye. "Did she have a comn on her?"

"Probably." Axle responded, curious as to what Narri was planning.

"You know the frequency?"

"By heart"

"Brilliant." Narri replied.

"What are you-?"

"You'll see."

"I'll be back. Stay here." Narri commanded.

After a few moments she came back with a laser cutter. "Come on." she said. "Let's go find your partner."


End file.
